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Oil Futures Down on Thursday But Stay Afloat Over $51 a Barrel

Oil futures retreated on Thursday after a climb in the previous session but managed to keep some of the positive momentum, according to Bloomberg MarketWatch.

West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery fell by 58 cents, or 1.1%, to settle at $51.56 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

November Brent crude, the global benchmark, shed 49 cents, or 0.9%, to end trading at $57.41 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe Exchange.

Analysts have noted that domestic crude is seen as more attractive to foreign buyers after WTI moved to a wide discount to Brent crude in recent weeks. The discount briefly reached $7 a barrel earlier this week and remains near $6 a barrel.

Meanwhile, natural gas prices settled turned lower. November natural gas settled at $3.017 per million British thermal units, down 4.4 cents, or 1.4%, on the New York Mercantile Exchange.